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First Assistant District Attorney Steven E. Gagne to be recognized as a “2012 Up & Coming Lawyer” by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly

Date:

05.08.2012

First Assistant District Attorney Steven E. Gagne will be recognized as a “2012 Up & Coming Lawyer” at the 2012 Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly "Excellence in the Law" reception in Boston, Thursday.

The event recognizes "the very best of the legal profession."

Gagne joined the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office when David E. Sullivan took office in January 2011.

“We are so proud of Steve Gagne and fortunate to have him handling some of the major felony cases in the Northwestern District,” Sullivan said.

“Not to mention that with his keen intellect, even-tempered personality and incisive yet gentle wit, he is a joy to work with every day,” Sullivan said.

The son of Edward and Jean Gagne, of Leominster, Gagne graduated from St. Bernard's Central Catholic High School in Fitchburg, the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester with a bachelor's degree in political science and from George Washington University Law School in 2001.

He and his wife Kate live in Northampton and have two young children.

Gagne was an assistant district attorney in the Bristol District since 2002 and began trying felony cases in Superior Court as a member of the Child Abuse Unit in 2005. He handled cases involving homicides, robberies, drug trafficking, sexual assaults, motor vehicle homicides and other offenses and was appointed head of the Major Violators Unit in 2007.

Gagne targeted gang-related offenders and habitual criminals in that position, helping to coordinate multi-agency investigations and prosecutions of gangs and violent offenders. He served as liaison to the United States Attorney's Office in Boston, coordinating numerous investigations and prosecutions of habitual offenders and firearms violators.

Since joining the NWDA, Gagne was instrumental in bringing the Phoebe Prince case to conclusion and is the lead prosecutor in the 2010 Granby murder of Annamarie Rintala, as well as other high profile cases.

In his replies to a list of questions asked of attorneys to be recognized by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, Gagne wrote that the best advice he was ever given is something Ghandi said, that “the truth never damages a cause that is just.”

“I consider it a great achievement anytime I am able to deliver some sense of justice to the victims of crime,” Gagne said. “The size or nature of the case makes little difference to me.”

As for what might surprise people about him, Gagne wrote that is he is an introvert .

His most prized possession is “anything my 4-year-old son makes for me,” and the famous lawyer he would most like to meet is Thurgood Marshall.